STURBRIDGE — The chairman of the Board of Selectmen has resigned from the board in an effort to maintain his relationship with Jesus Christ, he said.

Thomas R. Creamer, a selectman since 2009 and whose second three-year term ends April 2015, dropped the bombshell Monday night, but not before he chastised his fellow board members and the community as a whole.

Calling the past year, a "journey," Mr. Creamer said he was unable to escape the reality his personal relationship with Christ was at a "spiritual void" and "needed to become the single most important thing" in his life. He said he couldn't achieve this goal if he remained a selectman.

Often sounding more like a sermon than a resignation speech, Mr. Creamer quoted scripture and talked intimately about his relationship with God.

"I have come to realize that the single most important element in a human being's life is their relationship with God. And, frankly, sitting on this board, I'm challenged every Monday to try to maintain that relationship and build it," Mr. Creamer said Monday night. "When one's relationship with God is sound, every other aspect of one's life charts a course compatible with God's intentions. Recognizing such, it's clear that my resentments and frustrations in terms of the inequities that absolutely plague this community have impacted my outlook and serve now as a disservice to the community."

Since the last annual town meeting, Mr. Creamer said he has developed a growing sense of resentment toward those in our community who have become absolutely indifferent to the suffering of so many families and seniors here in Sturbridge.

"Sturbridge has become a community, unfortunately, where we have accepted the poor, the suffering and the downtrodden as just part of the landscape of this community," Mr. Creamer said. "All too often while sitting on this board, I have been reminded that, quote, 'There will always be people struggling. That's a part of life.' Certainly, this is no doubt a valid statement and one cannot argue the validity of such, but for any of us up here or in this community to accept it so casually that people are suffering in this community is simply inconsistent with who I am and whom I wish to become as a Christian."

Despite alleging that the needs and suffering are so prevalent in Sturbridge, Mr. Creamer said the 60 or so attendees at town meeting continue to approve every single expenditure and tax increase presented them, "based not upon validated need or true merit, but rather the social circles that they identify themselves with."

"When one reflects upon the annual increase in salaries, staffing levels, and benefits, all of which come at the expense of all too many suffering tax-payers who are losing their homes, three of them on my own street, it becomes more and more difficult for me to accept such inequity," Mr. Creamer said. "That said, I also have to recognize that in the truest sense, the real issue here rests not with those who pick and choose which causes best merit based upon the recognition/support within their social circles, but more so my personal inability to find peace with the growing resentments I've developed parallel to the widening disparity between the haves and have nots in this community."

Furthermore, Mr. Creamer said when one reviews the many categories by which communities are evaluated, more often than not, Sturbridge's "inflated and inaccurate perception" of itself is completely at odds with reality.

"Despite the bloated salaries of some, in capital letters, department heads, who miss not a chance to come before the board to ask for additional monies, we find that even with respect to these bloated department head salaries, in some cases, there has been no discernible or distinguishable improvements in service or in overall benefit to the community," he said.

Mr. Creamer said he could no longer represent a community that places "a higher premium on mediocrity disguised as proficiency, than it does true excellence" and "a higher value on secrecy, falsehoods, and image-manipulation rather that compassion, truthfulness and factualness."

Prior to his departure, Mr. Creamer said the town does have some very hard working employees and a core of hard-working, dedicated and selfless department heads, including Police Chief Thomas J. Ford III, Department of Public Works Director Gregory H. Morse, Town Planner Jean M. Bubon and Health Agent Alyssa Rusiecki.

"And with that, I wish you all the best and I will tell you I will continue to pray for you and pray for me," Mr. Creamer said as he gathered up his papers and grabbed his car keys. "I think you guys, all of us should reflect. I've done my fair share of honest reflection and I ask the community to do the same. We have lost too many residents and I can't be a part of that anymore. God bless."

Board members seemed stunned and did not even address what had just transpired, other than a suggestion by board vice chairman Priscilla Gimas that appointing a vice chairman should be on the agenda of the next meeting.